FEBRUARY
5, DEADLINE IS NEAR FOR BALLOT RECEIPT
IN CRITICAL
L. A. PACIFICA STATION BOARD ELECTIONS
-- FTW ENDORSES CANDIDATES WHO WILL
LIBERATE LISTENER-SPONSORED RADIO

Spinning
the Bush Administration's 9/11 pretext for the "war
on terrorism"
as "intelligence failure", we see little difference
between the Corporate
and the so-called Alternative Media. As the planet careens
towards Peak Oil
and impending natural gas shortages, the corporate media
censors it and
alternative media gnores it. Who will tell the
people about these and
other issues, like the ongoing 9/11 cover-up and the
real stories behind the invasion of Iraq?

Pacifica radio can fill this void, under the management
and leadership of
dedicated, fearless and professional broadcasters and
researchers.

Founded in 1949 by WWII war-resister, Lew Hill, Pacifica
invented the
non-commercial, self-supporting, listener-sponsored economic
model which From The Wilderness adopted as its own model.
When money comes in littlebits from lots of people, no
concentrated special interest can dictate
editorial policy. FTW differs from the Pacifica model,
however, in that we
are not subject to advisory boards or the intensity of
a complex political
process. Radio airwaves are powerful avenues of public
education and
battles are fought over their control. Powerful interests
always inject
themselves to protect their interests at the people's
expense.

I have had both good and bad experiences with various
Pacifica stations and
hosts. But I have never doubted Pacifica's value to the
nation and to the
world. I want it to be all that it can be in these perilous
times.

Pacifica is a non-profit foundation, holding federal
broadcasting licenses
and assets worth half a billion dollars. After 55 years,
it is
democratizing its Local Station Boards (LSBs) and enfranchising
its
Listener-Sponsors as Members with voting rights. We are
nearing the end of
an historic struggle for listener-elected oversight of
these precious
airwaves as local elections approach next week throughout
the Pacifica
network.

In Los Angeles, FTW's current home, there are some excellent
candidates at
Pacifica's KPFK (90.7 FM). FTW has been following the
on-air and community
candidate forums closely. From voices in the wilderness
to voices for the voiceless, we have
identified a slate of candidates who we believe will
fight for goals shared
by FTW and KPFK's listeners: free speech (unscreened
listener call-ins); grassroots democracy; local autonomy
(decentralized bylaws); transparency and affirmative
action (legal remedies in the bylaws). We believe these
candidates will do the outreach and recruiting necessary
to build KPFK into
a beacon for us all, and restore it to its original mission.

If you are a registered KPFK listener-sponsor and have
received a ballot,
FTW encourages you to support the following candidates.
Some are good
friends whom we have known for years. Others, based upon
their campaign
statements, past history and activism, have convinced
us that their
dedication and philosophy are in complete harmony with
FTW's primary
mission: bringing the world a better map. We especially
salute the
principled and decisive leadership of current station
manager, Eva Georgia.

There will be no democracy without an educated people...and
there will be
no educated people among Pacifica's listeners if YOU
don't cast your ballot
by next Thursday and elect anti-censorship candidates!
To learn more about
the KPFK election process, the candidates, the rules
and what's at stake,
please visit: http://www.kpfk.org.

Mike Ruppert
Publisher/Editor
www.fromthewilderness.com

***********************************************

FTW ENDORSEMENTS FOR KPFK LOCAL STATION BOARD -
in alphabetical order:

*Coalition for Justice - www.radiojustice.net
**Margaret Prescod is the local organizer of the
international "Global Women's Strike" (every
March 8).

While this election is almost over, democratization
has just begun! The LSB
will be comprised of 18 Listener seats and 6 Staff seats.
Half of the 18

Listeners seats (9) will be up for the second election
cycle starting in

October 2004. The other half will be seated for 3 years.
If you did not
receive a ballot for this election, it's not too late
to get involved in

this historic media democratization! Volunteer 3 hours
or donate $25 in the
upcoming February fund drive, and you will become an
eligible KPFK Voting
Member for the 9-seat Fall elections. You might want
to consider running

yourself...

There will be no democracy without an educated electorate...and
there will
be no educated electorate among Pacifica's listeners
if YOU don't cast your
ballot in this election by next Thursday and elect anti-censorship
candidates to Pacifica's Local Station Board!

-----------------------BIG EVENT SATURDAY-----------------------

From The Wilderness is honored to endorse the Global
Women's Strike
network's historic U.S. tour of Nora Castaneda this Saturday.
We hope you
will attend:

NORA CASTANEDA
President of the Women's Development Bank
in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

January 31, 2004 @ 5:00 p.m.
Immanuel Presbyterian Church
3300 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles
$25 for 1, $40 for 2
Low waged & unwaged $5-$10
No one turned away
All proceeds will go to grassroots women in Venezuela
who are building cooperation and mutual support.

Nora Castaneda, an economist committed to grassroots
women, was appointed
by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to head the Women's
Development Bank

when he agreed to women's demands for a bank as a way
of funding reforms to
benefit the poorest families & communities. Of African
and Indigenous
descent and the daughter of a low-income single mother,
Ms. Castaneda is a
remarkable woman in a remarkable time - one of great
economic and social

change ushered in by the election of President Hugo
Chavez in a landslide
in 1998 to get the country's oil revenue back and to
tackle poverty and
corruption, and by the people's defeat of the 2002 coup
carried out by the
racist Venezuelan elite with the support of the U.S.
administration.
Venezuela is the world's 5th largest oil exporter, yet
most of its
population lives in poverty.